


blue

by FeyduBois



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Jossed, Starboy: A Lance Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 11:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeyduBois/pseuds/FeyduBois
Summary: Lance is stranded on an alien planet while the paladins regroup. He was just going to chill for a bit, he didn't expect to fall prey to a predatory hallucinogenic jungle, and he certainly didn't expect to meet the Blue Lion's last paladin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Staryboy: A Lance Zine ( https://lancezine.tumblr.com/ )
> 
> Unfortunately I was Jossed by Blaytz, but if I had to get Jossed I'm glad it was by Blaytz. I love that carefree, egalitarian fish-boy.

**_“The Blue Lion--”_ **

**_“Whoah, hold up, let me guess, takes the most handsome, best pilot of the bunch?”_ **

**_Allura rolls her eyes and recomposes herself, “The_ Yellow _Lion is…”_**

 

<<Lance?>> Allura’s voice cut through, crackling over the comm speaker in his helmet,  <<Lance, do you read?>>

Awareness seeped into his foggy head and he grasped at it with trembling fingers.

<<Allura?>> Lance knows it’s her from the way she says his name,  <<What happened?>> Blue’s monitors were dimmed.

<<You were brought down by Galra cruisers,>> Allura spoke quickly.  <<We fought them off, but you and Pidge went down. Are you alright?>>

Lance got Blue’s displays up and scanned the status report. He mentally checked his body; besides a vague, whole body ache, no doubt a result of the crash, he felt fine.  <<I’m okay, but my lion isn’t looking so hot.>>

Blue’s main power system was down. She was starting on the self-repair process, a wonderful function they had discovered the lions all had, but it would take time.  <<Looks like I’m grounded.>>

<<Keith is retrieving Pidge, Shiro is in a healing pod with a concussion, and Hunk is on the ship, but the Yellow Lion sustained heavy damage. The castle is damaged as well, but even if it was not, it is too large to land in the jungle where you are. However, we could send Hunk down to help you with repairs?>>

<<Blue will be able to fly again in less than a quintant,>> Lance said, consulting the displays,  <<And I bet Hunk is helping you with repairing the castle.>>

<<Well, yes…>>

<<It’s alright princess, me and Blue can chill here for a bit. I’ve got rations.>>

<<Are you certain-- >> The transmission crackled,  << \--are you cold?>>

<<I meant chill like relax. We can wait.>>

<<Very well-- >> There was another crackle,  << \--ance? One more thing-- >> and again,  <<you must not-- lion. I repeat, sta-- your li--n.>>

<<Allura? You’re cutting out.>>

Static was the only reply. Lance sighed, “Well Blue, I guess it’s just you and me for now.”

A low, vibrating purr filled him.

 

The jungle outside of his lion was extremely dense. It was intensely green, splashed with red, pink, yellow, and deep purple shadows. Lance knew he should stay, but he also wanted to explore. The planet was primarily inhabited by plants, and of no mineral resource interest to the Galra, although apparently it was a source of quintessence. If they could find out more about quintessence, and why it was so valuable to the Galra, perhaps they could better predict their moves, or so Lance reasoned.

He brought up a scan of the environment: it was nearly 30 celsius and 75% humidity, so miserable, but not deadly, and there were good amounts of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and a high, but tolerable, oxygen content. No poisonous gases could be detected, but Lance still decided to leave his faceplate on since that much oxygen could get a human pretty high.

“I’ll be back soon,” Lance told Blue, pocketing his bayard. 

The hatch however would not open.

“Blue,” Lance said firmly, “I know your doors are working, let me out.”

Reluctantly Blue opened her mouth-hatch and Lance walked out onto the spongy ground. The gravity was noticeably higher than Terran standard and he found himself having to lift his legs with more force than was comfortable.

Lance walked for a while in a straightish line, dodging trees, dead logs, and other organic debris. He had yet to see a stream or stone, everything was plant, or perhaps fungus. He had yet to even see an insect, which apparently did exist on this planet according to the records. The jungle seemed to move around him, though he did not see branches bending in sync to indicate a breeze so the movements seemed unnatural and eerie.

Suddenly a dead log, which he had thought was solid, was not, and Lance felt his leg sink into it and his body pitched forward. He tried to stop himself against a tree, but that tree had a branch, spiked and hard. It came fast to his face and pierced his faceplate which he had assumed was made of stronger stuff, and just grazed his cheek. Lance remained in place for a moment, air hissing out of his suit as dizzyingly rich jungle air seeped into his helmet. Gradually he became aware of the pain in his leg as well.

Lance braced himself against the tree and pulled his faceplate out of the branch and his leg out of the trunk, wincing. He sat on the log and removed his helmet, frowning at the damage before clipping it onto his belt. Examining his leg he realized that the log had been sharp enough to pierce the fabric behind his knee and his suit was no longer space-worthy, at least until Coran had mended it. He had thought that it was stronger than that, and now wondered just what kind of risks were they running, flying around in space in such thin fabrics like they were? Lance felt small.

The wound was not bad enough for him to return to Blue, but the air was making him feel light-headed and he decided that he should. The smells alone were bewildering, sweet and strong, like roses, lilies, lilacs, and jasmine, too much when blended together. 

All of a sudden he heard a voice that jarred him; it sounded like a child. “ _ Mamí? _ ”

Lance did not pause to think why there was a child on an uninhabited planet, galaxies away from Earth, speaking his mother tongue.

It called to him so he went, forgetting about Blue, forgetting his friends, forgetting Voltron, the Galra, and the Castle.

“ _ Hola? _ ” Lance called, “Where are you?” He trekked on.

A short figure, humanoid, dove through a thick bush and he went after it heedlessly, “Wait!”

Lance burst through the leaves and stumbled into a deep, sinking moss. It was up to his knees already and he struggled to move through it but was stuck for a moment, breathing heavily, too tired to move against both the gravity and the sucking ground.

<<Lance?>> At first Lance thought it was the child, but then he realized it was Allura’s voice in his comm speaker, distant and tinny.

<<Allura?>> he asked, pulling on the broken helmet.

<<Thank the ancients you’re alright. We lost contact before I could tell you, on no account should you leave your lion.>>

<<Uh-huh,>> Lance said,  <<Uh, why?>>

<<You landed in a predatory jungle. The pollen has haccinatory properties and it will try to lure you into its digestive system.>>

<<What does this digestive system look like exactly?>> Lance asked, struggling to lift his leg but instead sinking deeper.

<<Lance?>> Allura asked slowly, <<Are you in your lion.>>

<<Nope.>>

<<Aah, quiznak.>>

<<My helmet cracked and I’m in some quicksand moss stuff… quick-moss? I’m guessing it’s the digestive system you mentioned. I can’t get out.>>

<<Listen to me carefully, you must reach out to your lion through your bond. We will come to you, but we cannot reach you as quickly as the Blue Lion is able to.>>

<<I’ll try.>>

Lance doubted his lion was repaired enough, but he was fresh out of options.

_ “Blue,”  _ he pleaded,  _ “I’m scared girl.” _

_ “Paladin?”  _ Was that his lion? She had never spoken to him like this before. Lance glanced about and locked eyes with a figure just beyond the quick-moss. It was a woman, Altean like Allura, with dark skin, pale shiny hair, and delicately pointed ears. She wore something like his paladin armour and, unlike Allura, her face marks glowed blue instead of pink; her indigo eyes were kind.

“Who are you?” Lance forced his voice calm.

“I am here to help you.” She stepped over the quick moss without sinking and held out a hand.

<<Allura?>> Lance spoke into his comm,  <<Blue isn’t answering but there’s a woman here.>>

<<It could be a hallucination.>>

<<She’s… I think she’s Altean?>>

Allura spoke slowly, as if confused, <<Blue’s last paladin was Altean. Her name was Shykla.>>

“Shykla?” Lance repeated aloud.

“Yes, young paladin,” she replied with a faint smile, “It’s me.”

<<I think it’s her, Allura.>> Lance wanted to trust this woman, but he was also aware, especially while speaking to Allura, of his weakness for beautiful alien women.

<<Stay back Lance, she’s probably a hallucination to draw you into the jungle.>>

But Lance was already waist deep in the jungle’s digestive system and this woman offered a way out, the only help he was getting right now. It was trust her or sink, so Lance trusted.

Shykla grasped his outstretched arm and tugged him with astounding strength. He topped onto the ground next to the quick-moss and knelt for a moment, breathing heavily with exertion and de-escalating terror.

“Thank you.”

“Of course child. Shall we go home?”

“But I don’t know the way.”

“Follow me,” Shykla said, and disappeared into the jungle. Lance followed as best as he was able, rushing to keep up, always just catching a glimpse of swaying silver hair around each bend.

Lance burst out of the jungle before Blue. The beautiful Altean woman was gone, but Blue’s mouth-hatch was open and Lance was convinced that he would find her inside. He rushed to the pilot’s seat, but found it empty. The entire cockpit was empty. Heavily he sat in the chair.

All of a sudden Blue’s energy rushed through him and he also felt her presence, her half-smirk smile and warm, penetrating gaze was upon him, though he could not see her face.

“Shykla,” he breathed in relief.

_ “Yes, young paladin,”  _ the voice sounded in his head, accompanied by Blue’s purr.  _ “Your lion was too weak to come and get you, but our combined quintessence was enough.” _

“Quintessence…” Lance mused, “Right.” He was starting to get a better idea of what this energy was, and the fact that the Galra were stealing it was sacrilegious.

“Hey,” he said, “Can you tell me something?”

_ “If I know it.” _

“When Allura was telling us what each lion’s thing was I rudely interrupted her and didn’t hear about our lion. She said Black is the head, so Shiro was the obvious choice. Green is curious, which makes sense because  _ Pidge _ , Red is impulsive, like Keith, and Yellow is strong and caring, so basically Hunk, but I didn’t get to hear what Blue’s thing is?”

_ “The Blue Lion is the heart. It is passionate, but also steadfast, compassionate, and forgiving. It is the glue that holds the others together. The Blue paladin is empathic, able to understand the feelings of others, to forgive fault, and to see the good in everyone. They are both trustworthy and trusting.” _

“Huh,” Lance mused, remembering his weak moments and his strong ones, comparing himself to Hunk and the other paladins, “That… actually makes sense. Thank you.”

_ “Of course child.” _

With this in mind Lance sat back and enjoyed the welcoming cool of Blue’s cockpit and her roaring, comforting purr.

“Thanks girl.”


	2. bonus!

“That was close, hey Lance?” Hunk asked.

 

“Yeah, too close,” he laughed, trying to sound light.

 

“Lance,” Allura said, “I wanted to say that you did a good job there, trusting Shykla. I also wanted to show you something in your room.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Come with me,” Allura gestured. Lance followed her into his quarters. She lifted a small panel near the bed where a familiar opening was seen.

 

“Is that?”

 

Allura nodded, “Put your bayard in to activate it.”

 

Lance slid his bayard into the slot and turned it. A sleek panel of the wall opened with a soft whoosh and suddenly there was what appeared to be a walk-in closet. A wall of garments hung on a wall, as well as low shelves of shoes and small accessories, other folded clothes, and on the far wall a full-length mirror with two other angled side mirrors so that a nearly full profile could be viewed. Lance gave a small gasp and stepped in, grasping at the beautiful Altean robes. The garments were mainly blue, although there were also shades of green, turquoise, purples, and even a few trimmed with orange and yellow.

 

“Are these hers?”

 

Allura nodded, “These all belonged to the last Blue paladin. All of the rooms have these closets but I thought it best not to show anyone until they had bonded with the previous paladins.”

 

“These clothes are beautiful.”

 

“I think that she would want you to have them and wear them.”

 

“I will,” Lance said, “Proudly.”

**Author's Note:**

> Working on this zine was amazing, so many talented artists and authors, especially Sien! ( http://sienaries.tumblr.com/ )


End file.
